A three-day program has been planned to celebrate the Founder of the Congregation of Marian Fathers, the Venerable Servant of God Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński, being raised to the honors of the altar. It will take place in mid-September at the Marian Shrine in Licheń.
His Eminence Tacisio Cardinal Bertone, the Secretary of State of the Holy See, will preside over the Holy Mass of beatification at noon, on September 16th.
“It is a very important day for the Marians worldwide. Our Founder will be proclaimed Blessed, more then 300 years after his death. The fact that the Licheń Shrine was chosen to witness this great event is regarded by all of us as a token of exceptional recognition. We expect that approximately 100,000 pilgrims will arrive to share with us this joy and to participate in the Holy Mass of beatification,” stated the Licheń Shrine spokesman, Fr. Zbigniew Krochmal.
Presidents of Poland and Lithuania – Mrs. Lech Kaczyński and Valdas Adamkus – will attend the main beatification ceremony held at the square in front of the Licheń Shrine, because Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński, who died 300 years ago, lived and worked at the time of the Republic of the Two Nations. On the eve of this day, H.E. Cardinal Bertone will lead the vespers at the Basilica. Honoring the victims of the Communist regime, who were raised to the honors of the altar in 1999 by His Holiness John Paul II, the Vatican high official will pray for peace in the world at the Chapel of the 108 Martyrs of the Second World War. After vespers in the Basilica, before the altar, which holds the miraculous image of Our Lady of Licheń, the Sorrowful Queen of Poland, venerated by the faithful for over 150 years, a Holy Mass will be celebrated. Following the liturgy, H.E. Józef Cardinal Glemp, the Primate of Poland, will lead a special Marian celebration and the candlelit procession. The next day H.E. Franc Cardinal Rodé, the Prefect of the Congregation of Consecrated Life, who came to Licheń for the beatification, will celebrate matins at the Most Holy Trinity Chapel for men and women members of religious orders.
After the main beatification ceremony at noon, Cardinal Bertone will go to Góra Kalwaria near Warsaw, where Fr. Papczyński’s tomb is located. The Secretary of State of the Holy See will pray there for the intentions of the Church in Poland and the Congregation of Marian Fathers.
The next day, September 17th, which marks the 306th anniversary of the death of Fr. Stanislaus Papczyński, H.E. Cardinal Rodé will pray at the tomb of the newly Blessed in Góra Kalwaria. The Slovenian-born Cardinal will also celebrate a Holy Mass of thanksgiving for the elevation to the honors of the altar of the Marian Founder at the local shrine at Marianki.
Father Papczyński will be the fourth Marian to be declared Blessed. Those beatified before him are: the Lithuanian-born Archbishop George Matulewicz, who in 1909 became a member of the Marian Order and then saved it from extinction to which the partitioning power destined it; and two Martyrs of World War II – Frs. George Kaszyra and Anthony Leszczewicz.
Vatican Radio, June 26, 2007